Laboratory Overtone Spectroscopy for Exoplanet research: Polyatomic molecules

This application for internal helping grant is in relation with unsuccessful GAČR grant aplication from last year with the same title. The proposed project aimed to provide high quality experimental data needed for modeling composition and properties of exoplanet atmospheres as well as other astronomical environments. One of the work packages of the proposed research involved development of sub-Doppler spectroscopic technique based on saturation absorption detection. Implementation of this technique would significantly enhance current capabilities of existing experimental apparatus (the high resolution NIR diode laser spectrometer), and hence broaden the range of scientific inquiries where we could contribute unique experimental data. Therefore I would like to apply for internal helping grant to progress on this line of research. We propose to incorporate a static absorption cell with high finesse optical build-up cavity. The build-up cavity will be actively locked to the incoming laser radiation using Pound–Drever–Hall feed-back locking scheme to maximize intracavity power. To facilitate the saturation, booster optical amplifier will be also implemented into the setup to increase laser intensity